Obviously some seeming hypocrisy here. Democratic-led cities pay for migrants' tickets to other places as resources dwindle As weary migrants arrive in Denver on buses from the U.S.-Mexico border city of El Paso, Texas, officials offer them two options: temporary shelter or a bus ticket out. Nearly half of the 27,000 migrants who arrived in Denver since November 2022 have chosen the bus, plane or train tickets to other cities in the U.S., city data shows. In New York and Illinois, taxpayer dollars also are being spent on tickets, creating a shuffle of migrants in the interior U.S. who need shelter, food and medical assistance as they await rulings on asylum cases that can take years. The transfer of migrants has gained momentum since Republican governors in Texas and Florida started chartering buses and planes to Democratic-led cities in what critics waved off as political stunts. More than a year later, some of those cities, their resources dwindling, are eager to help migrants move on to their final destinations. The efforts show the increased pressures cities are facing as more migrants from around the globe are coming to the U.S. southern border, often fleeing economic turmoil. Illegal border crossings topped 2 million during the government's fiscal year that ended September 30, the second-highest number on record. Denver alone has spent at least $4.3 million in city funds to send migrants to other U.S. cities, freeing up shelter beds for new arrivals while adding to the numbers in other Democratic-led cities such as Chicago and New York that are struggling to house asylum-seekers. Data wasn't yet available from New York, though the city is offering one-way plane tickets to anywhere in the world. Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago has used state funds to help buy tickets for more than 2,500 migrants who have family, friends or sponsors elsewhere. Charities are feeling the pressure as the weather turns colder and migrants end up sleeping in tent encampments. "It breaks my heart. It is like we have so many children and little ones that we know we can’t even help," said Yoli Casas, executive director of Vive Wellness, which works with new migrants to Denver. "There's just no more room. There's no more funding. There's no nothing." Denver has bought nearly 3,000 tickets to Chicago and 2,300 to New York, almost half of the more than 12,000 tickets the city has purchased for migrants since November 2022. The vast majority were bus tickets, but Denver also purchased about 340 tickets for flights and 200 for train rides. Roughly 1,000 tickets were bound for Texas and Florida, whose governors have sent chartered buses and planes of migrants to Democratic-led 'sanctuary cities' that limit their cooperation with federal immigration authorities. So it seems like at the same time Texas and Florida are sending migrants to other cities further north, those cities are busing the migrants they have to Texas and Florida. Kind of seems like a game of musical chairs. The migrants are just accepting the free bus tickets hoping that going to a different city will result in a better situation than the one they are in. Tensions flared between political leaders in January when Colorado Democratic Governor Jared Polis chartered buses for migrants to Chicago. Then-Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and New York City Mayor Eric Adams penned a letter urging Polis to stop and saying "overburdening other cities is not the solution." "We have other Democratic cities, Denver, California, L.A., sending their people to Chicago, New York. They’re sending their migrants to Chicago. Why? Because they are saying, 'We can't take anymore.'" Alderman Anthony Beale said in a Chicago City Council meeting. Democratic-led cities pay for migrants' tickets to other places as resources dwindle, by Jesse Bedayn, Associated Press - Report for America, 11-19-2023 related thread: Cities busing out their homeless to other parts of the U.S. (posted in Human Rights section, May 12, 2018 )
